To not take my work laptop on holiday?

[Justathrowawaycomment]

I have a relatively intense job - but - it's NOT a life saving type of job - it's in tech.

It is a US-based firm, and I report into a US-based leader. They don't really 'do' annual leave, as in, they take their PTO (Paid Time Off) but still dial into calls, and and...well, work, basically.

DH, DD and I go on a week's holiday (abroad) tomorrow morning.

My gut tells me to take my work laptop - so I have access to work/files if I need them.

My brain tells me that taking my work mobile (with access to email + Microsoft Teams) is enough.

When I ask myself "what could go wrong?" - it's nothing major, nothing that will cost us money, or be embarrassing for the company, but it might be inconvenient for my leadership team if they want access to something I can't provide from holiday.

I can't really pre-provide them with access to everything they 'might' need as there is a LOT of stuff, and some of it is quite sensitive, especially without context.

So AIBU to not take my (stupidly heavy) work laptop...? I think I just need reassurance that I'm not being unreasonable, more than anything.

Do not take your laptop with you.

Don't help facilitate making American workplace norms our norms. We should be aiming to be more like the French, not more like the Americans.

We are after all people, with one short precious lifespan that rushes by, we are not just robots who should flog ourselves to enrich the already wealthy shareholders of these conglomerates.

You are a person, you deserve a proper rest.

Lovely childhood memories for the kid too mum or dad hunched over a lap top, distracted. Like I said - pathetic.

As a cybersecurity professional I would strongly advise not connecting to any unknown networks with work equipment even with a vpn, it is highly insecure and is asking to be compromised. Also what if your devices are damaged or lost while you are away? Or confiscated by customs for some unforeseen reason. It’s a very bad idea. On a side note your PTO is a part of your total remuneration package, your employers don’t get to renegotiate that. If something falls apart while you are on holiday, and you have given them notice you won’t be there, it didn’t fall apart because you were on holiday it fell apart because of poor planning on their behalf.

This is pretty much what I do.
Love the anti US sentiment here though- I don't actually work for a US company so to say its all the US seems a bit prejudiced.
I don't think i'm indispensible and i know that the company i work for would be fine without me. However sometimes a five minute call can save a lot of work and also possible problems to deal with when I get back -I can switch off more knowing that someone could contact me if they needed to rather than worrying about stuff.
some of it is a quid pro quo - maybe you wouldn't be allowed annual leave at that specific time if you weren't contactable- we have a year end which means that taking holiday in a certain school holidays can be frowned upon but this is mitigated by being contactable
Lots of people in my company are subject to the two week compliance leave- which means they can't enter anything in work systems , sign anything or make decisions during those two weeks- they still take their phones with them.

Define 'work emergency' and then explain to me why your business is so fragile that one person can destroy it by going on holiday for a fortnight.

Doesn't seem like the problem is the employee.....

Criticising a countries law and practices is perfectly reasonable - saying doing so is “anti US sentiment” implies we are being unfairly bigoted which I object to as that IS how they work and it’s ok to have a view on that 🙄. Dh and I could have worked there in our twenties and I actually walked away from a job offer at a US investment bank (some thought I was mad) as we were about to start a family and we didn’t want to be in that culture.

I’ve been there, I took my laptop on our family holiday last year. I had several projects that were timed to go live when I was away, and I wanted the safety net of being able to check things. I know everyone is different and the majority will think I’m mad but I was able to relax more knowing I could put out a fire if I needed to.

Hi op!

You mention that you feel pressure from the culture created by your leaders taking calls at 5am etc. I think you need to think about the example you are setting your own team as perhaps you would make them feel the same if you work on your holiday? You could set them all a great example here about getting away and taking a proper break. You will come back energised and ready to hit the ground running.

I do get it though, I am not good at setting myself boundaries with work so I definitely sympathise!

Take care and enjoy your holiday

When I was mcuh younger there was a manager where I worked who was constantly busy - always doing stuff, never out of contact, worked insane hours. he was viewed as the subject expert and the go to safe pair of hands for pretty much everything. We were always "oh what would we do with out R?" "we'd be fucked if he ever left!"

Reader he had a massive heart attack and was medically retired. He was only 50.

As it turned out we learnt to manage without R perfectly well.

When one colleague left she had to be replaced by 4 men.

Enjoy your holiday.
I would make it clear that you won't be available you are entitled to that set boundaries.

If an organisation has 200 people then management should be assuming 1 will die every decade. And about 1 in 15-20 will need a few weeks off work due to sudden accident/illness every 1-2 years. If your org can’t cope with that then it’s just a question of when you will fail. A good way to check is to let people go on leave properly in a controlled and predictable way and see what they hand over and what doesn’t work in their absence.

I have just come back from a weeks holiday and I took my laptop. I only accessed it twice quite briefly but it was there.
Only time I would not is if I were on a cruise. Then I would just take my phone,
my work phone and personal phone are the same anyway as I hate carrying two phones.
I check my emails every day in bed in the morning and in the evening, and anything urgent they ping me a teams message.
Like others have said 30 mins a day tops and I come back to a tidy inbox and calm.
I am paid to be contactable, and it pays for our holidays.
My boss WhatsApped me at 8.30 last night about arranging a workshop; I just replied straight away, I was only watching Gavin and Stacey re runs.
if I was paid under £50k a year my attitude would be a bit more relaxed admittedly, but I have always taken work progression seriously. I’m also an accountant so when I was in lower level jobs there was a lot of unpaid overtime around month end so you just get used to it

if I was paid under £50k a year my attitude would be a bit more relaxed admittedly, but I have always taken work progression seriously.

You really think that someone earning 60k a year is 'paid to be contactable'?? I earn well into 6 figures but consider that I'm paid for my skills when I'm in work. When I'm on leave, I'm on leave.

All my reports are on 6 figures and I've made it clear to them that they do not work during holidays (or when they're ill). If there's a workshop to be arranged when they are off, I will find someone else to do it.

I earn £150k and am not ‘contactable’ in this way unless my client comes from a country where being contactable is the norm - which hasn’t been the case since before lockdown.

@LittleMy77 agree with you about having an out of office that says who can help (and agreed before your leave!).

The point made about unsecured wifi is well made by others too.

As for emergencies, family have contact details were someone to be seriously ill in my family.

I used to be expected to be on call in my old job - even when I was away for my brother’s wedding.

I decided it simply wasn’t worth it and now I have a job where my hours are my hours and my holidays are exactly that and I have zero regrets

tell work to F off